1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an optical imaging system, and more particularly to the use of electromagnetic energy in the microwave or radiofrequency range in combination with an optical imaging device for imaging real time luminescent reactions.
2. Related Art
Optical microscopy is a well-established technique that has wide ranging applications for imaging molecular dynamics of biological systems. Typically, these applications rely on external temperature controllers to maintain or change reactions rates of these biological systems. While microwaves have been shown to accelerate the rate of chemical reactions[1-7] and enzyme-catalyzed biological reactions [6, 8-11] some argue that the enhanced reaction rates in many microwave assisted reactions cannot be explained by heating alone. It has been suggested that there exists a “non-thermal” effect on biological systems, which potentially permutes enzyme, DNA and protein function and conformation after microwave exposure [6,12-16]. Recent works summarize some existing theories with regard to the interactions of microwaves with biological systems [17-19]. However, heretofore, the systems available could only look at the conditions before the reactions and then take another look after completion of the reactions [15, 20-22].
More recently, Copty, et al. published work that studied microwave effects on green fluorescent protein (GFP) in real-time and compared same to normal thermal heating [15]. However, the system used by Copty did not provide sufficient visibility of structures or the ability to measure physiological and biochemical event in living cells.
To perform related studies and address the need for real-time data of microwave effects on biological processes, a real-time imaging system having increase resolution would greatly facilitate the understanding of microwave effects on enzyme reactions rates, biomolecular interactions, and living biological organisms, i.e. mammalian cells. Thus, there is a need for using microwave focused and triggering technologies to capture real-time images of microwave induced solution heating and accelerated chemical reactions to analyze interactions of biomolecules in vitro and in vivo.